Serving with the Methodist Church in San Jose, Costa Rica

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1 The Zirkel Family Quarterly Newsletter Summer 2017 Serving with the Methodist Church in San Jose, Costa Rica June 2017 Dear Partners-in-Ministry, We pray you are well and enjoying all that is ours through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This year is going to be a year of change for our family. Sarah graduated from the Methodist High School last December. This Spring, she worked as a teacher s assistant at the Methodist Pre-School. This Summer, she is working at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, Mo.; and in the Fall, she will be attending Baylor University. Please pray for Sarah as she begins this exciting chapter in her life; and, for the rest of us as we adjust to having her so far away from home. (In the picture, we are at the Baylor football stadium. They are the Baylor Bears and we all are raising our Bear Claws!) Emma is in the 10th grade at the Methodist School. She has selected chemistry as her elective for the next two years. She is attending additional classes in chemistry at school as well as at the National University of Costa Rica. Emma was elected class president; and, she continues to play soccer and take piano lessons. In March, we celebrated Emma s quinceañera. It was a lovely fiesta. Though Emma did have to spend a few hours teaching her Dad to waltz! Ray and I are leaning mightily on Christ as we walk through this new season of life. It was difficult 23 years ago when we left our families for the mission field, but sending our child back to the States without us has touched a place deep in our hearts that sends us to our knees. We re not allowing ourselves to think about how its going to feel when Emma joins her sister at college in two years. The first six months of this year have been filled with some amazing times of ministry. The Methodist Church celebrated the first of several centennial celebrations in January. In February, the new school year began for both the Methodist School and Seminary. And in February and March, we held two health fairs at the Wesley Clinic. We have continued the building project at Loma Linda and begun new works in Guapiles and El Tigre. Since the beginning of the year, we have hosted several mission teams at the Children s Home, plus we have received five new children, completed two adoptions, and had three children reunited with their mother. We want you all to know what an exciting time it is to be in ministry with the church in Costa Rica. We hope you enjoy catching up with us in the following pages!

2 The Methodist Church celebrates 100 years of Methodism in Costa In 1917, Rev. George Miller and his wife Mary traveled to Costa Rica from California. In Costa Rica, they joined a pastor from the Methodist church of Mexico to establish what today is the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista de Costa Rica. From its beginning, in a remodeled theater in downtown San Jose, the church has grown to over 110 local congregations and preaching points throughout the country. In January, approximately 4000 Methodists from around the country gathered in Alajuela at a sports complex to celebrate 100 years of Methodism. The morning began with praise and worship and was followed by the participation of several local congregations. Numerous praise bands, choirs, dancers and inspirational speakers from Costa Rica and the Untied States rounded out the day s activities. One of the highlights of the day included the President of Costa Rica s, (Luis Guillermo Solis) congratulatory words to all those gathered and his recognition of the countless ways the Methodist Church has been used by God to bless the Costa Rican people. Another powerful moment during the event was the Bishop s sermon and his challenging words to all gathered at the celebration. Ray too, was privileged to share on behalf of the Methodist school and how it has played such an integral role in the development of the overall church s ministry throughout the years. (Pictured below is Rev. Dr. Luis Palomo, bishop of Costa Rica, with the President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, who is a graduate of the Methodist School.) 2

3 March 16, 2017, the Methodist Children s Home celebrated its 6th Anniversary! Since receiving the first children in 2011, we have ministered to 81 children. We have completed 23 adoptions including one international placement; 28 children have been reunited with members of their biological families; 7 children have been transferred to special needs facilities; and, 23 children are currently living with us. We are most grateful to all of you who make this ministry a reality. Thank you to everyone who has come to minister on a short term mission teams; thank you to everyone who has supported the ministry with your financial gifts; and, thank you to everyone who continually supports us with your prayers. Work continues on the multi-purpose building at the children s home. This is our third year working on this building. Once complete it will be a gym for the children at the home to use especially during rainy season. But, it will also be used as a place of ministry and outreach to our neighbors. We are going to have a daycare for children under age 6 and various programs for their families. Several mission teams have ministered at the Home during the past six months and several more are scheduled to come this Summer and Fall. We hope to be able to get the roof on this year and begin working on the interior shortly thereafter. If all goes well, we should be able to dedicate this building in early While at the Home, the mission teams spend time playing with and ministering to the children. The children like for them to play as often as possible and on Wednesday afternoons, we try and bring the children home from school early so that they can have a special time of Bible study with the team members. Often, there are dramas, singing, and crafts. Work also continues on an external wall to enclose the property. We have completed the first section and are waiting on permits for the second section which will cross the 3

4 creek (we hope), and complete the back portion of the property. During Holy Week, we had a fire on the property. It began near our lower soccer field and climbed the hill just behind the houses. We are so grateful that the children were never in danger. In May, we had heavy rain and flooding which caused one of the hills to give way creating an incredible landslide all the way to the creek. The landslide took out the road and drain that lead to the lower soccer field. Thankfully, most of the road has recently been repaired. During Summer vacation (Dec. 16 and January 17), a special financial gift from a family in Texas made it possible for the children to take three day trips: to the volcano, the ruins in Cartago, and to the children s museum in downtown San Jose. Plus, all of the children enjoyed taking swimming lessons; the boys had soccer training and the girls took ballet. Their summer was full and they had an incredible time. Once the school year began, we had a few changes at the Home. We had a little girl, 3, who had been living with us for two years, adopted by a lovely Costa Rican family. In the last four months, we have received a little boy, 8 months; a little girl who was 15 days old when she arrived; and, a family of three siblings: ages 6, 4, and, 17 months. Just last month, we said goodbye to two little brothers who have been reunited with their family. And on the last day of June, we completed another domestic adoption. A little girl, 9, who has been living with us for 2 years was adopted by a local family. This year we have seven children attending the Methodist School and twelve are in the public school. We were able to move all of the public school children to a smaller school, closer to the Home, and all of the children seem to be doing much better. We continue to have a tutor at the Home every afternoon to help with the children's homework as well as to help the children who are behind academically to catch up. Almost all of the children made the A/B honor roll, two made the A honor roll the first semester of school. 4

5 The Wesley Clinic in Puerto Viejo has received its permanent operating permit! During February and March, we were blessed by two groups who conducted health fairs at the Wesley Clinic. Next week we will host our third major event when another group of physicians come to Puerto Viejo. Besides the tremendous blessing of having these teams minister with us, we also are so grateful for the donation of an ultrasound machine (Houston Methodist Hospital) and the final operational permit from the Costa Rican Ministry of Health!! After eight years of prayer and perseverance, the clinic is open and operating. Praising Him! Foundation work begins on new church plant in Guapiles! Sunday, June 18, was a memorable day for the Methodist Church in the Caribbean slope city of Guapiles. (about 1.5 hours east of San Jose) During the service, pastor Jorge Aburto shared with the visiting group of team members from North Texas that they were truly an answer to prayer. Then on Monday, work began on the construction site with the digging of many ditches (some with a little mechanical assistance) tying of rebar and other preparatory work. We are so excited and grateful for the four teams working in Guapiles this summer and for the long awaited start they represent to this congregation s dream of finally have a permanent sanctuary. (Pictured below is the church plant in La Argentina, a neighborhood just outside of Pocora, Costa Rica, together with pastor Marvin, interns Heide Forrister and Harrison Holmes. ) 5

6 Mission teams begin work on the 2nd floor addition at Loma Linda Thanks to the work of three diligent mission teams, much progress has been made on the Sunday school rooms and second floor addition at the Loma Linda Methodist Church just outside of Puerto Viejo. At the end of last summer, we thought we would be almost finished with the project. However, in discussions with the local pastor and district superintendent, the decision was made to add a second floor youth room before putting on the roof. So, teams this year have been busy preparing columns to support the second floor addition. We know when completed, it will be used not only for youth, but by the entire congregation and community. Work begins on the Parsonage/ Multi-purpose building at El Tigre Throughout the years, many groups have led VBS at this local church just north of Puerto Viejo. However, this year is the first time we have been able to actually begin a major construction project in el Tigre. There are multiple infrastructure needs on this site including the redesign of the sanctuary (getting it out of flood danger) and the building of a parsonage. To that end, the first phase of building a multi purpose building (which will eventually be the parsonage) began with a wonderful group of youth at the end of June. The work was definitely not easy and the temperature and humidity were both around 90. Nevertheless, much progress has already been made and the local congregation is extremely grateful for all those who have participated in the work so far. 6

7 The Seniors from the Methodist School attend Camp Eagle, Rocksprings, Texas This past May was the second year in a row that we were able to take the entire senior class from the Methodist High School for a week long camp experience at Camp Eagle. The week was filled with teaching, Bible Study, worship, and lots of outdoor activities. (Ray was very excited to return to the archery tag course and see who he could tag this year!!) We were not only blessed by our wonderful Texas hosts, speakers, and music leaders (Ryan Barnett, Rusty Freeman, Paul Trejo and Ani Barrington) but by some amazing youth leaders from the Texas area who lead small group discussions and modeled for our Costa Rican professors the ministry of serving as a camp counselor. A big thanks to God for these Texas Rangers as they soon came to be known. The Lord s hand was over the entire camp in so many ways including through the ministry of camp doctors Kim & Louise and through the call He placed in the hearts of so many youth. The final night more than half of the students came forward for first time commitments to Christ!! What a time of celebration!! The Methodist Seminary The new school year began with Ray teaching two classes. The first term he taught Church History and during the second term, the Gospel of Mark. In addition, he has mentored another San Jose area pastor in teaching courses in one of our regional seminary sites. The fall will be particularly busy as we welcome several guest professors to our main seminary campus, including Dr. Steve Gober from Asbury Seminary, and leaders from Saddleback Church in California for a special small group ministry course. And in September, Dr. Billy Abraham from SMU will be returning to Costa Rica to teach on John Wesley s sermons. Your prayers for each of these special events are most appreciated! 7

8 Praises and Prayer Request: 1. Ministry This is our 23rd year of ministry with the Methodist Church in Costa Rica. We are so grateful to all of you who make it possible for us to be in fulltime ministry. Thank you for praying for us and for your much needed financial support of us through your monthly financial gifts. 2. Children s Home Please pray that we receive the construction permit that we need to begin work on the second part of our exterior wall. We would like to give God great thanksgiving for all of the mission teams who join us each year. We could not do ministry without You! 3. Wesley Clinic Please pray for our ongoing scheduling process at the clinic and join us in giving thanks for the donation of the ultrasound machine from The Methodist Hospital, Willowbrook! Praising Him for this incredible donation. 4. Methodist School in August, we will be having Spiritual Emphasis Week. Please pray for tender hearts and a pouring out of God s Holy Spirit and the entire ministry team that will be joining us for that week. 5. Family Please pray for our family as we send Sarah off to college and especially for Sarah and her transition into college life. 6. Interns We are most grateful for these sweet people. We could not host teams without them. From left to right: Harrison Holmes, from Dothan, Al. and a college sophomore; Rebecca Torrence, from Chattanooga, TN and a college freshman; Heide Forrister, Llano, TX, our niece who has been ministering with us for 14 months. Heide will be attending graduate school in August.; Charlotte Clinton, Dallas, TX, who was our very first intern 10 years ago. Charlotte has returned for another summer with us! And, David Zamora, Costa Rica, one of Ray s seminary students and now the administrator at the Wesley Clinic in Puerto Viejo. Thank you all! Financial Support: First United Methodist Church Outreach Committee/Zirkel 301 North High Street Uvalde, TX Correspondence: 2053 NW 79th Avenue SJO #1441 Doral, FL ray.zirkel@gmail.com ljzirkel@gmail.com 8